Improvement in wagon-tongues



' nections to the axle.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFETeE.

FRANK LARSON, OF ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA.

IM PROVEMENT IN WAGON- TONGUE S.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 73,025, dated February 1, 1876; application filed November 8, 1875.

' and are often broken, injuring the horses, and

sometimes causing the vehicle to be upset; besides this, the tongue is very heavy to handle when sufficiently strong.

Myimprovement relates to ahollow wroughtiron tongue, that is adapted to receive the whiffletree bolts, holdback chains, and con- By this improvement the pole or tongue is very strong, comparatively light, and not liable to break and injure the horses. I

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of the said tongue. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 is a cross -section at the line at w, and

Fig. 4 is a similar view at the line y y.

The pole or tongue is made of wrought-iron bent into a tubular form, and tapering toward the front end. The portion a of the pole is flat, or nearly so, upon top and at the sides, to receive the hounds or straps b b, that pass off to the bars orconnections for the front axle, and the rear end of the tongue is connected to the cross-bar d,- between the straps or hounds b b. The forward end of the tongue is made tapering, and will generally termimate with the staple e, that serves for attaching a second team, or for the holdback chains or straps. The edges of the metal forming this hollow tongue will be made as flanges projecting downwardly, and running longitudinally below the tongue at vi, and riveted together, and at l the flange is notched to form the connection for the holdback-ring neck-yoke, that is often connected at the end of the pole.

The hollow tubular tapering tongue may be closed at the back end,'and taper from the point of attachment of the straps b back to the cross-bar d, or else it may be left open, the under part of the metallic tongue being removed below the dotted line, Fig. 2.

The bolt for the whi ffletree is passed through a hole in the tongue at 0.

I claim as my invention 1. The hollow tapering metallic tongue or polefor vehicles, made of sheet metal, with the flange running longitudinally beneath said tongue, and with the straps b b, for connecting the same to the axle, as set forth.

2. The hollow metallic tongue 'or pole for vehicles, made with a longitudinal flange heneath the same, and notched at Z for the holdback or yoke connection, as set forth.

Signed by me this 4th day of September, 1875.

JAMES GEoReE, JAMES HIOKGOX. 

